1981 Kawasaki KZ750 Resurrection

[ShadowFocus603]

Ed I have been away from here awhile but she is definitely coming together nice. Great Job.

[Nessism]

Just took the first ride! Runs GOOD! Very nice driveability. First gear is tall but the clutch and low end torque manage easily. Speedo and tach needles are rock solid. Bike feels like a scooter compared to the GS1000.

Have some niggly things to tend to: fuel level warning light sensor leaks, so took it out, exhaust leak because missing the crossover pipe gasket on one side, need to anchor the clutch cable better, and the exhaust pipes only look so so. At any rate, it's a good day. Time to clean the garage...

P1020745 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020744 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020743 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020742 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020741 by nessism, on Flickr

P1020746 by nessism, on Flickr

[jsandidge]

About time we saw it! Lookin good!

[nvr2old]

To truly appreciate how far this bike has come, is to simply go back and review the first few pages of this thread. I always wait to do that until after seeing finished pics. An amazing transformation, Ed. Nicely done.

[Charlie G]

Very nice Ed!

[Nessism]

Thanks for the comments guys.

So one of the niggly issues is leaking of the fuel level warning light sensor. Leak is around a rubber grommet built into the unit. Soaked it in fuel for a few hours to swell the seal and that seems to have fixed it up. Fingers crossed.

P1020748 by nessism, on Flickr

[alke46]

If the soaking doesn't keep it from leaking, you might try soaking it in Marvel Mystery oil. I used the wintergreen & xylene mixture on some carb boots and other rubber pieces and it really did a good job.

Very nice looking result on the Kawi project. What plans do you have for that bike, keep it or sell it? Good luck with whatever you do with it.

[dorkburger]

Pat yourself on the back. It looks great.

[azr]

Looks fantastic Ed, this has been a long time coming for you. I bet that ride felt pretty good........what's the next project??

[Joe H]

Very nice, I couldn't wait to see it and it was well worth waiting!

[Nessism]

Dropped off the pipes at the powdercoater today. $260 for black ceramic coating, $330 for silver. I opted for black but there is time to change my mind. I really like the chrome look but the silver just looks like shiny silver paint, not chrome. Guy running the shop said you can polish the silver for a shinier finish but not sure it's worth the trouble.

I'm in the process of going through a second set of carbs so that will keep me busy for a few days. One of the floats is a little sticky on the existing carbs so gotta pull them off and see what's what anyway.

[Vmass]

The bike looks fantastic, Ed. Is this one a keeper or should I dispatch my shipper?

[rudeman]

Like everything else I've seen from your shop, in a word amazing. Nothing wrong with the look of those pipes. Those 750 KZs were runners for sure.

Just took the first ride! Runs GOOD! Very nice driveability. First gear is tall but the clutch and low end torque manage easily. Speedo and tach needles are rock solid. Bike feels like a scooter compared to the GS1000.

Have some niggly things to tend to: fuel level warning light sensor leaks, so took it out, exhaust leak because missing the crossover pipe gasket on one side, need to anchor the clutch cable better, and the exhaust pipes only look so so. At any rate, it's a good day. Time to clean the garage...

[Nessism]

While waiting for the pipes to be finished I've been busy working on carbs. The current carbs dribble when on the side stand, and one of the floats is sticky too. Pulled them off and set up a test stand so fuel level could be measured. Shame on me for not doing this before trying to put the carbs back in service. Anyway, found all the fuel levels high. Checked the float needles and two of the little spring loaded tips were frozen solid. Could have sworn I checked that when rebuilding the carbs last year but maybe they froze due to inactivity? Got the tips freed up and checked fuel level again and still high. Tweaked the floats and it helped but during this process had one of the floats stick (again). I've got a second set of carbs so pulled out the float needles and picked the best of the bunch for the runner carbs but not happy. Had to bend all the floats quite a bit and one carb still has a high fuel level. Conclusion is the float needle springs are too weak and the rubber tips aren't sealing like they should. OEM float needles are $26 each so going with K&L, who sells 6 packs for that same price. Why the heck do they pack them like that though? 6?

My extra set of carbs are actually in very nice condition. The yellow zinc plating on the various steel parts looks much better than the other set. Decided to go through this set and maybe even switch to them. Soaked the carb bodies in dip sauce and was horrified to see the nice pretty plating eaten to crap by the carb dip. Dang Keihin carbs using inferior plating to that used by Mikuni. At this point I decided to break down and replate all the parts, and may as well media blast the carb bodies at the same time. Made some major progress on this yesterday (will post some photos in a little while). Tried to soda blast the carbs but the corrosion pitting wasn't coming off so went to glass bead. Everything looking good at this point, just need to decide if I'm going to try to pull the throttle shafts out and replate the end fittings. I'm going to try one carb and see how it goes and then decide about the others. Wish me luck...

[rustybronco]

Luck has been wished!